REVIEW & GALLERY: Enjoy and Puzzle at Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH – 4/26/25

Words & Photo: Izzy Furl

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Enjoy and Puzzle embarked on a co-headlining tour this spring and made a stop at Columbus’s own Newport Music Hall. The tour follows the release of their newest albums—”The Sound of Deceit”  by Enjoy and “Damage Collection!” by Puzzle.

Puzzle

Puzzle performed first, accompanied on stage by a bassist and drummer. Fletcher Shears’ music has become intertwined with industrial drum and bass over the past five years, which brought a palpable energy from both the crowd and the speakers. Fletcher entertained the audience by jumping around haphazardly and eventually laying flat on the floor like a dead man. Despite the heavy, high-energy backing of these tracks, they’re often paired with piano or synth melodies that offer a calming counterbalance—exemplified in songs like “Bankrupt (i hear it makes you smile).”

Another signature element of Fletcher’s work is his use of samples. One of the side projects within their Vada Vada collective is Turkey, composed of William Sipos and Fletcher Shears. It’s genuinely hard to say whether the drums were electronically produced or performed live by Fletcher. This fusion of electronic instrumentation is a delight, especially when you catch a sample from a favorite video game. “The Bouncer” includes audio from an early cutscene in “Metal Gear Solid” (1998, PlayStation), and the title is pulled from “The Bouncer,” a 2000 beat ’em up game for the PS2. (Check out the trailer featuring the sample: The Bouncer Opening (PS2) (HD Quality)

Enjoy

Enjoy’s performance featured a full band, with two guitarists and a drummer, while the man himself, Wyatt Shears, took up the bass. His latest album includes a track featuring the lead vocalist of glam metal band L.A. Guns, who got their start in 1983. Continuing the theme of blending old and new, Enjoy’s set included “I’m Content” (2012) and “Drink Myself to Sleep” (2025). The latter is my personal favorite from The Sound of Deceit—its layered guitars have a crunch that pulls you in and strings you out. If you listen to any track off the new album, let it be this one.